And then, as those who misappropriate Native American culture are wont to do, Trump and his political bootlickers were quick to tell those stung by his insult that they shouldn't be offended.

Oh, really.

Crude translation: If it's OK with us and we can get a cheap laugh out of it, why can't you?

That's the same basic argument that the — dare I say it — "Redskins" organization has used for decades to deflect and defeat calls by Native American groups for the team to change a logo that they find racist and demeaning.

The team continues to stick it to those who dare take issue with their commercial exploitation of a racial slur.

The Redskins are not alone in that regard, mind you. Hundreds of schools — one report found slightly more than 2,100 — across the U.S. still have team names depicting Native Americans, often in shameless stereotypes.

That includes dozens of schools in Texas, including at least one — Donna High, down in South Texas — that still sports the offensive Redskins mascot. One North Texas school's alumni and officials, citing tradition, recently fought back against an effort to change Keller High School's "Indian" mascot.

"We want our school left alone. We want our pride left alone," one Keller alum, Teri Owens, told the school board this month, according to NBC5.

A Keller Indians softball supporter made her way toward the front gate as part of a large contingency that made the trip to Austin in June to support the Indians in their quest for back-to-back state championships. Keller defeated Austin Bowie to win the title.

(Steve Hamm/Special Contributor)

Most disturbing was the tone-deaf reaction from speaker after speaker who insisted on telling the Native Americans who took offense to the mascot that the school's logo was an "honor."

Yet, Yolanda Blue Horse and other Native Americans eloquently explained why they see the appropriation of their culture and identity as a source of disrespect, not pride.

"Our dress, our regalia, the way our ancestors dressed is very sacred to us — very sacred," she said. "If I feel this way, if I feel hurt, if I feel misrepresented, if I know that this is not the way I was raised of who my people are, how does a child feel, who is in the years of self-identity?"

What I never hear from these traditionalists is the S word. No one bothers to say, "We're sorry if this offends or hurts you in any way."

Instead, Native Americans keep getting the same pathetic, insensitive and paternalistic treatment similar to what we saw and heard this week at a staged event in the Oval Office.

Trump managed to turn a solemn tribute to Navajo code talkers into a shameful political side show.

It was bad enough that the ceremony was framed with a portrait of former President Andrew Jackson — architect of the Trail of Tears — hanging in the background.

But bad optics weren't enough.

Trump, in a manner suggesting a shallow recognition of the code talkers and Native American heritage, decided to play his Pocahontas card again.

It's a reference he used repeatedly during his presidential campaign to mock Warren, who has said she has Native American roots.

"You were here long before any of us were here," Trump told the three code talkers in the Oval Office. "Although we have a representative in Congress who they say was here a long time ago. They call her Pocahontas."

This time, the president's running joke wasn't just a tiresome jab at Warren.

It was a slight to Native Americans.

"The reference is using a historic American Indian figure as a derogatory insult and that's insulting to all American Indians," John Norwood, general secretary of the Alliance of Colonial Era Tribes, told NBC.

Norwood urged the president to "stop using our historical people of significance as a racial slur against one of his opponents."

One can only hope that the president's faux pas will be used as a catalyst for change.

That Trump will realize his cheap shots at Warren are causing collateral damage.

That the hundreds of schools — particularly those with offensive symbols — still using Native American heritage as props will at least stop and listen.

And that the NFL team from suburban Washington, D.C., will one day come to its senses and find a new name.

It's time for all of us to stop speaking in codes and making excuses for the cultural degradation that Native Americans long have faced in this country.